


Lonely Vagabond

by Ithinkwehaveanemergency



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Light Angst, M/M, Musician Liam, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-29 20:06:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15080729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ithinkwehaveanemergency/pseuds/Ithinkwehaveanemergency
Summary: “Holy shit, dude.”  Theo laughed, slowing down to stop at a red light.  “You're that guy!  From that boyband!  Liam… Dunbar!  That's it!”“What gave it away?”  Liam snapped, rolling his eyes in the mirror.  “The screaming girls?  Or are you a diehard fan too?”“Hey.”  Theo scolded, refusing to let the handsome, but seemingly bratty celebrity get to him.  “Don't get snappy with me, Liam Dunbar.  I just dropped everything to help you.”“You're literally an uber driver.”  Liam rolled his eyes again, his head lolling along with it this time as well.“An off-duty uber driver.”  Theo corrected.  “Speaking of which, give me that $100.  I don't feel bad taking all of it now that I know you're rich.”OrThe one where Liam is a lost musician in the streets of Berkeley, and Theo is the San Francisco uber driver who really needs to explain to Liam how uber works.





	Lonely Vagabond

**Author's Note:**

> The lyrics used in this fix belong to Tove Lo and her writing team, not me.
> 
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> -Adri

“HELP!  Help, please!”  Theo was startled by the aggressive pounding on his window.  He looked out the window and into terrified deep blue eyes. The hooded man was most likely an adult, but looked no more than Theo’s age.  He was covered in tattoos on one arm from his knuckles to his mid forearms, where his Adidas hoodie was bunched up at his elbow. He pulled some cash out of his pocket with his inked hand as Theo cracked the window.  “Please. Please help me, I'm being chased. Here look, here's $100, take me far away from here, that's all I ask!”

 

“That’s not how Uber works, dumbass.”  Theo frowned, before looking around the  empty parking lot he’d stopped in to take a break from picking up and driving around drunk college students.  There, in the far corner, near the curb he saw four teenage girls running toward his car and the stranger outside it.  Throwing caution to the wind, Theo nodded toward the backseat and started his engine.

 

“OH MY GOD.  Thank you!” The man yelled as he dove into the backseat of Theo’s white Civic, shutting the door behind him.

 

Theo pulled out of the parking lot, hearing the crazed girls yell after them, “Liam! LIAM!  We love you!”

 

Theo snuck a confused look, and then two more, in the rearview mirror as he quickly put space between them and the screaming girls.  On the fourth glance in the mirror, he caught the man pulling his hood down, revealing perfectly quaffed dirty blonde hair with signature pastel pink highlights.  He turned slightly and Theo finally saw the man’s face in brighter light.

 

“Holy shit, dude.”  Theo laughed, slowing down to stop at a red light.  “You're that guy! From that boyband! Liam… _Dunbar_!  That's it!”

 

“What gave it away?”  Liam snapped, rolling his eyes in the mirror.  “The screaming girls? Or are you a diehard fan too?”

 

“Hey.”  Theo scolded, refusing to let the handsome, but seemingly bratty celebrity get to him.  “Don't get snappy with me, _Liam Dunbar_.  I just dropped everything to help you.”

 

“You're literally an uber driver.”  Liam rolled his eyes again, his head lolling along with it this time as well.

 

“An _off-duty_ uber driver.”  Theo corrected. “Speaking of which, give me that $100.  I don't feel bad taking all of it now that I know you're rich.”

 

Liam sighed heavily.  He pulled the wadded up bill from his pocket and reached forward, bracing himself on the back of Theo’s seat with one hand while putting the $100 into the driver’s cup holder.

 

“Thanks.”  Theo smirked, turning to wink at Liam as the young famous man lingered with his head in the front half of the car.

 

“Where are you taking me anyway?”  Liam asked as they drove down the dark, fairly clear freeway.  He paused then, much to Theo’s surprise, and began climbing over the center console into the front seat.

 

“You’re… Wait.   ** _Hey._**   That is not safe, stop that!  Watch your… _Jesus_!”  Theo scolded the other man in exasperation as he finished maneuvering his body into the passenger seat and putting his feet up on the dashboard.  “Make yourself at home, I guess.”

 

“Oh, Sorry.”  Liam quickly dropped his feet to the floor again.  “Not really used to riding around in anyone's car except like… my mom’s or a driver’s.”

 

“Its fine.  Normal fares do much worse.”  Theo huffed out as he took an overpass that said ‘580’ inside the Interstate logo.  “And to answer your question, I dunno. But we’re going far away. You said take you far away.  That is what I am doing.”

 

Liam raised an eyebrow and shrugged in acceptance before slouching in his seat and looking out the window.

 

“That's it?”  Theo glanced at the celebrity in his passenger seat in shock.  Liam looked back at him confused. Theo had a hard time keeping his gaze directly at the road ahead instead of on a adorably naive look on his companion’s face. “Look, man.  For future reference… you're way too pretty to be getting in cars with strange men and allowing them to take you anywhere they want.”

 

“Dude.”  Liam leveled him with an unimpressed stare.  “Pretty sure I'm not the one who allows strange people into my car several times a day.  And you're even _prettier_ than I am, so like... that can't be safe.”

 

“Not the same thing.”  Theo chuckled lightly, but dropping the subject anyway.  “Also, I highly doubt the rest of the women in the world would agree that I'm prettier, but thanks for trying to get on my good side.”

 

“The rest of the women in the world that are irrationally obsessed with a silly music group, you mean?  Their opinion is biased.” Liam scoffed. Theo could hear the cocky smirk in his voice. “And I'm not… I live with a group of pretty men, and I'm positive you're much more attractive than any of them.”

 

“Are you…”  Theo shook his head in amusement.  “Kid, we gotta work on your self-preservation skills.  You’re hitting on your kidnapper. That's just plain stupid.”

 

“Not hitting on you.  Just stating a fact. Plus, you're being paid to kidnap me.”  Liam said, voice lower, quieter. As if he was apologizing, not trying to be coy or flirty.

 

“Oh, that's right.”  Theo nodded in understanding.  “I think the I saw something on the interwebs about you dating a Kardashian.”

 

Liam looked up at that.  Theo didn't need to face him to see the harsh look of displeasure on the young man’s handsome face.  He stared hard at Theo for a moment before turning back to look out the window as the buildings became sparse.

 

They were driving past a water plant, the main one in the bay area, with red-orange tanks littering the deep green hills.  A stark contrast to the dirty, bright, crowded city they'd departed from.

 

“Where are we?  Are we leaving the city?”  Liam sat up and examined their surroundings just as they passed through the fastrak toll to cross the Richmond Bridge.  Traffic was light this late at night on a weekday, but Theo drove slow anyway as he noticed his passenger staring out the windows in excitement.

 

“You were never _in ‘_ The City’ to begin with, but yes, we are driving away from the Town, and Berkeley, and The City… Which, again, you were not in.”  Theo answered finally, by way of what probably sounded like nonsensical rambling, judging by Liam’s confused glance.

 

“Dude, what's _that_?”  Liam leaned over suddenly, almost into Theo’s seat.

 

His hand was braced on the dashboard as he looked across to the opposite side of the bridge in front of them.  There were bright lights, but not like a stadium, they were low-power and yellow, except for the one that seemed to be spinning like a lighthouse.

 

As they drove closer they could hear the faint sound of an alarm going off.

 

“That's San Quentin.”

 

Liam startled, apparently mesmerized by the going-ons at their destination.

 

“Like the prison?!”  Liam screeched. He sat back against the passenger door in fear, and Theo felt a tiny bit of relief at the guys inkling of common sense finally showing itself, as ironically inappropriate as it was.  “Holy shit, does that mean that a prisoner escaped? Does that mean they're on the loose out there? Why aren't we turning around?!”

 

Theo tried not to laugh too hard as the bridge ended and the State penitentiary became hidden by the hills, but the siren became louder.

 

“No.  Man, that's just a lockdown, there was most likely not a breakout.  You gotta get out more. Aren't you from California. Speaking of which…”  Theo drove them down the winding highway, away from the notorious institution.  “What were you doing in the middle of b.f. nowhere and without like… a bodyguard or whatever?”

 

“I’m from LA, but like… I technically don't  even have a home, so I'm not ‘from’ anywhere.  I’m more like a… _Vagabond_?  And I ran away tonight when we went out after the show.”  Liam sighed and relaxed a little in his seat. When Theo turned to him with a judging, amused look, Liam opened his mouth and held a hand up.  “Not intentionally.”

 

“How the fuck do you unintentionally ditch professional bodyguards?”

 

“No, no, I didn't have any bodyguards tonight.”

 

“What the fuck Liam?  You said you ran away.”  Theo laughed, throwing his free hand in the air in exasperation.

 

“From the guys.  I ran from the guys!  They were…” Liam heaved a sigh and ran his hands through his hair, mussing up its perfect shape, but looking like he didn't care in the least.  “They were trying to help, but I just didn't want… I just wanted to go out and get drunk and party. Like we normally do, but they all ganged up on me... I mean, honestly, I know they mean well, but anyways, I kind of fought with them and ditched out the backdoor of the club that we weren't even supposed to be at, because I’m apparently supposed to be laying off the illegal clubbing, and then… here we are.”

 

Theo tried not to assume any of the possible scenarios flying through his head, despite his best efforts to convince himself he doesn't care about the secret lives of the Hollywood elite.  He’d seen the articles over the past couple years.

 

**_'Rainbows’ Heartthrob 'Chucks' Up Breakfast on LA Overpass._ **

 

**_Liam Dunbar Seen Carried By Model Girlfriend and Bandmate Into a Limo at 5 in the Afternoon._ **

 

**_Youngest Member of California’s ‘Rainbows Over Chucks’ stumbles out of New York Restaurant with Unknown Blonde Bombshell._ **

 

Even if he did care, none of that was Theo’s business.  He didn't know the man, so who was he to judge, with the things he’d done in his own past.

 

“Shouldn't you call them and let them know you're okay?”  He spoke softly, finally breaking the tense silence.

 

“Don't know their numbers.”  Liam hissed back.

 

“What about your girlfriend?”  Theo tried again.

 

“Can you just… I dunno.  Take me to a hotel or something?”  Liam’s tattooed hands picked nervously at his artfully tattered jeans.

 

“Wanna do something else?”  Theo prompted, wanting to rid the boy of his sullen attitude.  Theo had grown quite fond of the cocky retorts until he’d ruined it by prying too much.  He owed the other man to make it better again.

 

Or at least that was what he told himself, ignoring the way Liam looked up, shy and hopeful at the prospect of spending more time together.

 

“I'm going to show you something I don't show many people.  So don't go writing a cheesy song about it or some shit.” Theo grumbled, trying to suppress his surprise at the words coming out of his own mouth.  He had never brought a boyfriend up to his ‘spot’ and he wasn't sure why he suddenly wanted to share, with a complete stranger no less, something that had been so special to him ever since he was young.

 

They drove another ten minutes or so to the top of a significantly hilly neighborhood, even for the bay area of Northern California.

 

“You got walking shoes?  That you don't mind getting dirty?”  Theo looked down at Liam’s designer shoes.

 

“Yeah, I'll just throw them away later.”  Liam shrugged, pulling up his hood once again.  “I hate sneakers anyway. I think these are Scott's.  He's got like 100 pairs of shoes.”

 

“Jesus, okay, let's go before I realize how fucking weird this is and change my mind.”  Theo rambled, getting out the car and walking to his trunk. He heard Liam do the same just as he’d grabbed a dark tan bomber to throw on over his thin white henley.  “Follow me and watch the trail. Not everyone up here picks up after their dogs.”

 

“Gross.”  Liam comments while giving Theo an assessing once over.  He can't tell if it's appreciative or surprised, so he just walking away, alarming his car with a beep.  He gets almost-kind-of an answer to which it was when Liam starts following him and speaks again. “Hey, dude, are you like a model for a real job and just uber driving for extra cash?  Cause, man…”

 

Theo looks over his shoulder, noticing that Liam's determination to watch his ass as he walked up the hill was about to lead him straight into a pile of dog shit.

 

“Hey!”  Theo turned around putting a hand up.  Liam froze in place, his eyes flying up in shock and fear, clearly assuming that Theo was fed up with the comments on his appearance.  Theo pointed down at the ground right in front of Liam. “I said… Watch the trail.”

 

Liam looked down, then walked around the pile of excrement, jogging to catch up with Theo, a relieved look on his face.

 

“I'm not a fucking model.”  Theo grumbled. “I'm a freelance bike mechanic and I volunteer at an animal rescue ranch in my spare time.  And I coach a junior soccer league a few months out of the year. That's why I drive. It's not one of those months, so I've got a little free time, and the cost of living around here is high.”

 

“Holy shit, dude.”  Liam looked over at him in shock as they made a turn at a Y in the trail.  “How old are you?”

 

“Uh, 22?”  Theo squinted at the bush-laden side of the trail ahead before stopping in place.  “Here, we’re gonna walk through this tiny split in the trees, so watch out for the branches.”

 

Theo started up the off-trail, shoe worn path through the trees and shrubs.  He moved slowly, looking behind him frequently to make sure Liam was catching the branches that Theo was letting go of as they maneuvered up the steep bank.

 

“You sounded unsure.”  Liam laughed as he watched both his footing and Theo’s guidance through the trees.  He slipped a couple times, but caught himself easily, and Theo patiently waited for him to catch up every time.

 

“I had to do the math.  I forgot.” Theo shrugged, walking out to a small grass clearing, holding back the last batch of branches for Liam to pass through.  “Here we are. That, young Liam, is The City.”

 

Liam stood next to Theo and his breath hitched audibly.

 

In front of them, across the glittering Richardson Bay, the two men could see the yellow-tinted, blindingly bright city of San Francisco, complete with both the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges framing it's brilliant downtown Skyline.

 

“This is unreal.”  Liam whispered in an awestruck voice.  He took a few steps forward and sat down toward the edge of the small clearing, pushing his hood off his head and wrapping his forearms around his knees.

 

Theo stood behind him, watching the infamous twenty-year-old with a furrowed brow and whispered to himself, “You're telling me.”

 

Theo grinned as he heard Liam let out a loud whistle and listen to it echo across the tiny valley at the start of the bay.  He took out his phone and snapped a picture of the view with Liam sitting in the corner of the frame.

 

Theo didn't have social media, and he hardly knew how to work his camera phone.  But the picture was beautiful. He took a couple more, with and without Liam in frame and then walked up to sit beside the younger man.

 

“Hayden isn't a Kardashian.”  Liam said as soon as Theo settled beside him.

 

“Hey, no, I didn't mean it like… insultingly.  She's a very beautiful woman, and I'm sure she’s very nice.”  Theo rambled, trying to appease the sadness that had crept back into Liam’s tone.

 

“She's not.  Not really.” Liam shrugged.  “She's nice to her fans, because she is truly grateful to them and loves their support.  But like, she’s generally a bitch. But that's why I like her. She’s nothing like the vain, materialistic person the media makes her out to be.  She’s real. She’s solid. She’s educated and funny and loyal. She's my best friend.”

 

Theo wasn't sure how, but he knew there was more that Liam wanted to say.  It's like there was this heaviness in the air around them, some tight, invisible grip around Theo’s chest that seemed to be coming from the stranger at his left.

 

“She's not my girlfriend.”  Liam spoke again after a minute.  “I'm gay.”

 

Theo nodded, somewhat surprised at the information, but at the same time completely relieved.  The news didn't necessarily mean that Liam had been hitting on him with all the comments about how attractive he was, but at least now Theo couldn't deny the fact that he’d wanted him to be.

 

“Why, uh…”  Theo tried to find delicate words, but they’d never particularly been his forte.  “Why aren't you out? I mean, your band mates, the cute ones? They're together right?”

 

“Excuse me?”  Liam laughed suddenly, and tension seeped from Theo’s shoulders from the joyful sound.  “The _cute_ ones?  What am I?  Chopped Liver?  Man. I knew you weren't a fan of me, but I didn't know it was because I'm just not your favorite member of the band.”

 

Liam kept laughing lightly.  Theo could tell some of the tension in the other man had seeped away as well.  He had a warm, honest smile on his face and when he glanced over to meet Theo’s gaze, the skin around his eyes wrinkled in amusement.

 

Theo was sure that the smile he directed back was embarrassingly large.

 

“No, yeah.  Sterek is real.  Some people say it's a gimmick, but like… they're the real deal.  They've been together for longer than people know. It was like… brand new, I guess, when we first got big.  Stiles was 18, Derek was 21, and like… they decided that it wouldn't be best for the work atmosphere, and they stopped whatever had been going on.  But then the fans kind of latched on to how outrageous their chemistry is, especially when Stiles wrote that song where he blatantly said he left his girlfriend for her brother, and like… the rest of the story pretty much everyone in the world knows.”  Liam took a deep breath, probably going over the memory of the time his band won a Grammy in his head. Theo had seen it all over the news. His bandmates had been caught up in the moment and had kissed, rather passionately, on camera when their win for Best New Artist was announced.  Liam exhaled heavily and let go of his knees. Leaning back onto his elbows in the damp grass, he finally answered Theo’s question. “To be honest, that's kind of why I'm not out.”

 

Theo looked back over his shoulder, waiting for Liam to go on.  When he realized the man seemed drained, as if just talking about that tiny bit of his life that he usually doesn't get to share with anyone outside his inner circle had expended all the energy he had left in him after what Theo was just now realizing must have been a very long day.

 

“I get it a bit, I think.”  Theo spoke finally, his tone hushed, cautious, as he stared at the man’s ripped and faded jeans and the designer belt that held them up.  He knew he was going to be overstepping a bit, and again, for some reason, he just _knew_ that it would be okay with Liam, _welcome_ even.

 

“I can understand not wanting to be a spectacle any more than you already are.  I mean, people would probably make up stories about a love triangle, or how it's just a publicity stunt, or how you just want attention.  I've known you for an hour, and already I know that would drive you nuts.” Theo paused, glancing up to see the vulnerable look in his companion’s eyes.  He swallowed heavily as his throat tightened. “To have people think you're something you're not?”

 

Liam breathed heavily, looking intently into Theo’s gaze even as the whites of his own eyes became pink and glossy.  Theo wanted to look away, afraid that staring at the very expressive man by his side would cause him to get red-eyed as well.

 

“Isn't that what they're doing now, though?”  Liam asked, the vulnerability fading from his face as fast as it came.  In its place fell a mask of jaded indifference that did not belong on such a young man’s face.

 

“What do you think is worse, then?”  Theo pouted in thought. “I guess no matter what you do, someone out there is always going to think you're someone you're not.  I can't imagine having to be you, out there on display for other people to look at and judge. I get exhausted enough that most people I try to talk to just think I'm a vapid shell of a human being just because I’m fit.”

 

“Hey, I'm sorry.”  Liam frowned. “I shouldn't have said that thing about being a model or whatever.  I didn't mean it like that.”

 

“No, I know.”  Theo shook his head, turning back to face the distant glow of the city in front of them.  “I know that you don't make assumptions like that.What you said about your not-girlfriend?  That was beautiful. That kind of won me over.”

 

“I won you over?”  Liam’s voice squeaked a little at the end and Theo could hear the hint of happiness in his previously sad tone.  This boy was going to kill him with the frequent ups and downs and honest, raw emotion. But Theo found that he loved it.  He would probably deal with the bouts of the man’s existential dread for the rest of his life, just to hear the flutter of excitement or happiness at the end of them when Theo reassured him that everything was probably going to be alright.

 

“Honestly?”  Theo heaved a dramatic sigh as his eyes followed a small patrol boat that was circling the bay.  “I think you won me over when you almost kicked me trying to climb into the front seat.”

 

Liam was silent behind him for a beat, then sucked in a breath before asking the question Theo didn't know he had been dreading all along.

 

“What's your name?”

 

Theo could hear him breathing heavily in anticipation and was positive if he looked over his shoulder he’d find the musician staring at him like a piece of art.  Theo’s forehead scrunched in confusion at the constant foreign feelings. The way he just _knew_ the man beside him.  He knew him on a level of intimacy that seemed impossible for strangers.

 

But that's what they were.

 

That was for the best.

 

“Do you want to come home with me?”  Theo whispered on a shaky exhale.

 

“Yes.”

  


*****

 

**11 Months Later**

  


“ _And in entertainment news, fashion icon Hayden Romero has signed on for an exciting new reality tv miniseries, which follows her and her fiance, goth-folk singer Tracy Stewart as they travel to parades around the country for Pride month on what they're calling the ‘Our Colors Tour.’  Artists that are supporting select dates of Tracy’s first headlining tour include some of Tracy’s closest friends and acts that she says influenced and helped her early in her career. Some of the bigger names are Imagine Dragons, Hayley Kiyoko, and the band who gave Tracy her first gig on a nationwide tour, opening for them all of 2016.  California’s own pride and joy, the boys,_ **_no_ ** _, I suppose we need to call them men now, of Rainbows Over Chucks.”_

 

Theo stopped cleaning the grease off the wrench in his hand and looked over his shoulder at the TV hanging in the small auto shop.

 

“Can you turn that up, Corey?”  Theo called out to the man sitting at the desk below where the large TV hung on the wall.  The brunette gave him an odd look. “Just do it, dickhead.”

 

“You are so random.”  Corey mumbled, using his phone to raise the volume without even looking up at the TV.

 

“ _Joining us today to talk about Hayden’s tour and perform her brand new single is Tracy Stewart and the young man who co-wrote it, and coincidentally the best man at her upcoming nuptials, Rainbows Guitarist, Liam Dunbar.”_

 

“Since when are you so into pop mus-”

 

“Shut the fuck up for a second, Corey.”  Theo seethed, crossing his arms over his chest, not taking his eyes off the TV as the camera panned to a pretty girl that Theo vaguely remembered hearing the music of and a man he had tried very hard to avoid pictures of over the past year.

 

“ _Thanks, Ava.”_ Tracy’s smooth voice spoke into the Mic as Liam sat on the stool next to hers, a guitar in hand.  He looked relaxed, not quite happy, but there was a sense of contentment that Theo didn't remember seeing on his handsome face that night, almost a year before.   _“And Liam here is in fact my best man, but he's also the man who had the idea for the tour and was the mastermind behind the whole thing before E! got a hold of it for the whole show thing.”_

 

Theo watched as Liam gave a tight, but not unkind, smile at the host and then went back to fiddling with his guitar.

 

Over the past year, Theo had forced himself to tamp down any urges to search for videos of the band or Liam online, in fear he’d become tempted by the sight of him to use the number that had been left on his nightstand so many months ago.

 

Liam’s now much darker blonde hair fell into his face and his arm came up to brush it behind his ear.  Theo froze in shock as he continued to take in the new look. The tattoos had grown a bit on the man’s left arm, making almost a full sleeve.  What had given Theo pause was the lone tattoo on the other arm, running along the length of his ulna. It wasn't dark enough to be recent, but the colors of the panoramic view of the Golden Gate bridge were unmistakable on Liam’s tan skin.

 

“Holy shit.”  Theo’s voice shocked himself as well as Corey, who finally looked up at the screen then at his friend in confusion.

 

 _“So, you two are close, like best friends for life sort of thing?  That's precious.”_ Ava, the host, cooed.

 

_“Actually, Hayden and Liam have been best friends for a few years now, since they were 18, I think?  And when I was on tour with him and the guys last year, he’s the one that set us up. We were writing this song together, or more so he was writing it and I was whining about my lack of love life, and he just said, ‘Hayden is pretty cool, you should date her.’ And then I… did.”_

 

Tracy laughed, high pitched and dorky.  The kind of sound people only know how to make when they're really truly happy.  Liam beamed at her, not even remotely embarrassed by the way Tracy’s voice went into a typical California surfer accent as she poorly mimicked his voice.

 

“ _This is all just too precious.”_ Ava went on and Corey got up from his chair finally, walking around the desk to stand next to Theo.  Mason walked in at the same time and went to open his mouth but Corey made a strange shushing gesture and nodded toward Theo with a confused look on his face still.

 

Theo tried to ignore them as the interview turned toward Liam.

 

“ _So, Liam, can you tell us about this song?  This is your first foray into writing without your beloved bandmates.”_

 

 _“_ What are we-”  Mason stage whispered.

 

“I will stab you two if you don't shhh.”  Theo growled.

 

“ _Uh, it's about… me?  I guess I can just say that, since everyone will speculate that anyway?”_  Liam raised his hand to run through his hair, showing off the bridge tattoo once more.  Theo was mesmerized. In the same way that this was the man he stupidly fell for in a matter of hours, it was also someone completely different.  Theo wanted to know him too.

 

“ _It’s called Stranger.  Who is the stranger here?”_

 

 _“Well, it's literally… a stranger.”_ Liam shrugged with a laugh.  “ _I met someone about a year ago, here in the bay actually, and they changed my life forever.  I know a lot of crazy stuff has happened to me over the past several years, which has all been amazing, through the highs and lows.  But the thing is, I was kind of lost? And they found me, or more literally, I found them. And even though I don't know their name. The final product came out quite a bit darker and sexier than the situation actually was, but that's what happens when you write with Tracy.”_

 

_Liam paused to bat away his friend’s hand as she moved to pinch his thigh._

 

 _“So, despite its fondest intentions, this song is a bit of an almost depressing look at what I felt when I them, and how they were what I had been so lost looking for.”_ Liam looked up into the camera finally and Theo’s breath caught.  “ _I_ _feel like I became a better person because of that day, just from the hours we spent talking, and the effect that time had on me.  And I'm pretty sure everyone in my life agrees.”_

 

 _“Wait, you really don't know this person's name?”_ Ava held a hand over her heart and made a dramatic face of devastation at the story _._

 

 _“Nah, I mean, I know where they are.  They know where I am.”_ Liam laughed sadly.   _“They're probably too busy coaching little kids, or fixing up cool old bikes, or rescuing shelter animals, and basically being a stupidly wonderful person to even pay attention to the fact that I wrote a song about them, but just in the case they did ever notice, I thought they should know I still think about them every day.”_

 

_“Well that was a truly heartbreakingly beautiful story, Liam, and I can't imagine anyone who knows you not being completely enamored by you.  I know people are loving the song so far, so without further ado, here is Tracy Stewart with her newest single, ‘Strangers’.”_

 

 _“_ Holy shit, Theo, why did Liam Dunbar just describe you like… totally 100% accurately right there?”  Mason shouted as Corey slapped his husband and went to raise the volume from his phone once again.

 

Theo stared, speechless at the TV as Tracy started singing.

 

“ _Fading out, that's my way of life_  
_Losing high when the beat goes down_  
_Take me now, take me to a place we're alone, we're alone_  
_Fading in, take off all my clothes_  
_Into you, my frustration grows_  
_Take me now, want you to bring me home_  
  
_You're my stranger in the dark_  
_I am lonely, lonely heart_  
_Waiting for someone to take me home_  
_You're my stranger in the dark_  
_I am lonely, vagabond_ _  
_ Hold me down, want you to bring me home”

 

“Theo, is this about that time you got super moody after you brought a guy home last year and wouldn't tell us what happened?”  Corey spoke as Liam strummed his guitar easily, eyes cast down as Tracy sang. “Holy shit, Theo. Did you fuck Liam Dunbar?”

 

“I can't…  I need to go.”  Theo swallowed around the lump in his throat as he walked away, grabbing his keys and walking toward the parking lot, Tracy’s soft, sultry voice carrying on behind him.

 

“ _I wanna be what you want me to be_  
_I'd go anywhere, no rules, I don't care_ _  
_ Oh, oh just take me home.”

 

_*****_

 

The sun had just begun to set by the time Theo got home from his ride up coast and back.  The ocean air always did wonders for Theo’s anxiety. He liked the roaring of the wind in his ears, and the flashes of blue out of the corner of his eye every time the highway curved toward the coast.  It helped center him in a way that nothing else could, and usually it would end when he came back down toward the city and stopped at the Battery to look across the bay at The City amongst the tourists that looked on in awe.  Watching the way they revelled in the view of the Bridge and the Bay always put things in perspective for him when he thought life was too hard and felt sorry for himself about all the pain he’d been through.

 

Today, he’d taken a different approach and had gone up to the overlook that he had been avoiding for the past year.

 

From where he stood, he could see the Battery, even if it was too far to see the people there, he knew they’d be there.  And there he stood, a local, alone in his own, equally amazing view, when he realized that he hadn't come back because he would always wish there was a particular man beside him, staring in awe at the panoramic perfection as Theo stared in awe at him instead.

 

Theo stepped forward to the spot they had sat in before they had decided to drive into the city.  To Sunnydale, where Theo lived in a house with his roommates. As they drove through the famous streets of San Francisco, Liam had his head practically hanging out of the window like a dog.  When they got back to a highway and off the scenic streets of The City, Theo found himself answering questions about his life he’d never answered for anyone before. About Tara and about the parents he hadn't seen since the accident.

 

Liam had told him about his own father and they tangled their hands together tightly, breathing heavy as Liam barely restrained himself from climbing over the stuck shift into the driver's seat as Theo hurried to get them home.

 

Theo sat there, in the late afternoon sun,remembering how it felt to hold Liam up against the wall of his shower, biting bruises into the sun-faded words tattooed across his chest.  “Every form of refuge has its price.” Theo held the taste of the words in his mouth into the early hours of the morning when they tumbled into bed, damp and sated. He carded his hands through the light pink streaks atop the guitarist’s head as he listened to the explanation about the Eagles song which the words came from.  Liam seemed like he could talk for hours about music, and after what he’d experienced first hand that night, Theo didn't need the young, passionate, emotional musician to continue the explanation to understand what the words meant to him personally.

 

Theo watched the ferries sail from the port to Angel Island back and forth, reflecting on how he’d sat and stared at the slip of paper on his dresser for hours after he woke.  It was a note addressed, “Dear Stranger,” that informed Theo that Liam had used the computer to text a driver and he hoped that Theo would call him when he was ready to tell him his name.  Theo still had the paper, safely tucked in his top drawer.

 

Theo entered the house, greeted by his two recently rescued puppies, and though he could hear Mason in the kitchen, he ran upstairs to his room instead, in need of a hot shower to relax his muscles, sore from being on a bike all day.

 

Theo grabbed his phone. Which he had left on the dresser that morning, not originally planning to be gone for as long as he had.  He had more messages than usual from his friends’ group text, but he didn't have the energy to wonder about who Mason and Corey had been gossiping with.

 

Theo opened Instagram, quickly figuring out how to make a private account, naming it something that made him chuckle out loud at his lameness, and putting a plain picture of his recently finished Triumph Bonneville.  He quickly found Liam Dunbar’s Instagram, with its millions of followers and followed it.

 

He opened a DM, knowing that even if Liam did manage his own account, it would most likely get lost amongst the millions of other messages the man was sent per day.

 

 **Bay BRaeken:** _Thought you might like these pictures.  You look well, Liam. I think about you too._

 

He attached the pictures he took of Liam that night as the young, troubled man sat in the wet grass and stared out across the bay.  

Theo plugged in his phone into the wall and went to get in the shower, all the while thinking about what he was going to say to his best friends.

 

When he finished showering, he left his en suite to the mouth watering scent of Mason’s signature rib seasoning.

 

He unplugged his phone, shoving it in his sweatpants pocket and walked downstairs to find the boys sitting at the dining table with their other roommate, Nolan.

 

“Any chance you can wait til I've eaten to hound me with questions?”  Theo arched an eyebrow, as he grabbed a beer from the fridge. He took a seat at the table and the other three men stared at him unblinking.

 

“So, is that a no?”  Theo took a swig of his beer.

 

“Theo.  Are you serious?  Why didn't you tell us?”  Nolan threw his hands in the air.  “That guy is like… super hot!”

 

“Nolan.”  Corey scolded the youngest member of the household.

 

“Guys.”  Theo reached forward and grabbed a rib off the plate cautiously, daring them to stop him.  When no one said anything, he grabbed another and sighed. “Look, it didn't matter. We… we were from different worlds.  I wanted no part of his.”

 

“But you did want _him_ .”  Mason pried, taking a sip of his own beer.  He froze as Theo froze. He set down his beer slowly, leaning on the table with his forearms.  “You _still_ want him.”

 

“It **doesn't** matter. **"**   Theo ground out the words like they hurt every inch of him to say.

 

The table was quiet as they all stared at Theo.  It had been years since Corey had seen him show that much emotion, and the other two quite possibly never had.

 

“It matters, Theo.”  Mason started again. Theo looked up at him with tired eyes.  “It matters because you deserve love just like the rest of us.  And if this…”

 

Corey reached out and grabbed Theo's hand where it rested on the table next to him.

 

“Theo, if Liam Dunbar is the person who is going to love you and if you want to do the same, then it is worth trying.”  Corey told his best friend and adopted brother of the past ten years firmly. “I love you. We love you. You will always be our family.  But you can’t be afraid of getting hurt for the rest of your life. You can’t.”

 

“Fine.  That’s…”  Theo took another sip of beer, frustrated.  “I get your point. I do. But it’s been a year.”

 

“A year, and he still remembers everything about you.”  Corey squeezed his hand tighter.

 

Theo felt his thigh vibrate.  He pulled his hand away and used it to take his phone out of his pocket, assuming it was another text from an acquaintance.

 

“Holy shit.”  Theo gasped, seeing the notification about a message from Liam Dunbar’s Instagram account.

 

“What.  Oh my god, Theo, what?!”  Nolan squealed from his right.

 

Theo opened the message and saw the simple words on the screen.

 

 **Liam Dunbar:** Thank you.  My number hasn't changed.  Please let me see you.

 

Theo passed his phone around the table, and the boys yelled and hit the table in excitement.

 

“No!”  Theo shouted.  They all stared at him in shock as he grabbed his phone back.  “No, I _can't_ , I can't do this. This is stupid. I can’t fucking-”

 

“Theo!”  Mason shouted angrily.  Theo looked up and locked eyes with the homeowner, the man who had been family to him ever since they started mechanic school together.  “Theo, what is going to hurt more? Seeing him and figuring out it won't work? Or _never_ seeing him again?”

 

Theo held his phone up with shaky hands and scrolled through his contacts for ‘the Stranger,’ as Liam had dubbed him those many months before.  That was where he had Liam’s number safely stored, even though he had told himself he’d never use it.

 

“Okay.  Okay. Okay.”  Theo chanted. He opened a text and his fingers hovered over the keys, as if he’d lost all sense of himself.

 

“Theo, just… just say hello.”  Corey nodded encouragingly.

 

Theo nodded back then began typing out a greeting and an invitation.  The other three men around the table waited patiently until Theo had finished and then all gasped as he turned off his phone.

 

“What are you _dooooing_?”  Mason squealed reaching across for where Theo had set his powered down phone on the table.

 

“Guys.”  Theo laughed.  “I don't know what's about to happen.  I don't know if he's going to respond that yes, he wants to meet while he's in town.  And if he does, I don’t know what is going to happen from there. But what I do know is that no matter what, this is my family, and this is the only thing I’ve ever called home.  And I love you guys. So can we just… Can I just spend the next thirty minutes of my life eating delicious food and drinking beer with my best friends?”

 

After a long beat, Nolan sniffled into his sleeve and Mason reached out and punched the younger man in the chest, receiving an enraged, “What the fuck?” which then dissolved into a wrestling match on the ground while Corey and Theo devoured the delicious plate of ribs in front of them, laughing at their live entertainment.

 

*****

 

**One Week Later**

 

Theo sat on the grass at the edge of the small clearing overlooking Richardson Bay.  It was early in the night, just after 10 P.M. he breathed in the cold night air and pulled his jean jacket tighter to his body.

 

“HELP!  Help, please!”

 

Theo startled and leapt to his feet.  He turned around, meeting the sparkling eyes of a radiant young man that he hadn't seen in almost a year, but who also hadn't left his mind for a second since they were last standing right where they stood.

 

“Here, I have $100.  Take me home with you.  That's all I ask.” Liam Dunbar grinned, clad in board shorts, a hoodie and Rainbow sandals.

 

Theo smiled back and walked up to the famous musician, holding out his hand in greeting.

 

“Sounds like a solid deal, Liam Dunbar.  My name is Theo Raeken.”

  



End file.
